


safe

by certifiedweirdo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sexual Abuse, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 07:02:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19145935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/certifiedweirdo/pseuds/certifiedweirdo
Summary: He’d been looking forward to tomorrow for a month straight.Okay, so maybe he hadn’t known it would be tomorrow until like last week, and maybe it couldn’t be classified as “looking forward” to it when half of the emotion he felt was good, old anxiety.--





	safe

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this before endgame but of course I just finished the first chapter because I'm lazy. Anyways, this is going to ignore Infinity War and Endgame because I can't handle the pain. Also, Tony didn't sell the tower because it's convenient for me. Please don't forget to read the tags for any triggers!

He’d been looking forward to tomorrow for a month straight.

 

Okay, so maybe he hadn’t known it would be tomorrow until like last week, and maybe it couldn’t be classified as “looking forward” to it when half of the emotion he felt was good, old anxiety. 

 

That being said, he was looking forward to tomorrow night since almost a month ago exactly. A month ago was when his aunt sat him down at the dinner table after school, telling him they needed to talk. Which, obviously, scared him. What good news ever follows the words “we need to talk?” None. Well, almost none.

 

Because May saying she had a date that night was most definitely not bad news.

 

“Who is he?” Peter remembered he could practically feel his face light up with joy. If anyone deserved a night off, it was May. 

 

And he also remembered the surprise that came with his aunt’s announcement of the date being with a woman. That, he did not expect. 

 

The month since this first date had been filled with Peter’s frequent questions of when he could meet her, and May’s response of not being sure whether it was serious yet, whether they would get that far at all. 

 

Then a week ago, she finally said yes when he asked if he could meet her. His question was only a joke at that point, fully expecting the usual response. One week, she said. 

 

Since that day, Peter had been worrying about tomorrow night, dreaming up every possible scenario that could occur. What if Spiderman was needed? What if the whole restaurant blew up? What if she hated him?

 

Two of those worries may have been slightly unlikely, he had to admit, but the latter was very possible. And May had been so happy for these past few weeks ever since they’d started dating, and he knew that if she didn’t like Peter then May wouldn’t hesitate to break up with her and Peter didn’t want May to stop being so happy and--

 

Okay, he needed to stop freaking out. 

 

He tried to think logically about this. Most adults liked him, right? Adults seem to love any kid who does well in school and doesn’t do drugs, so yeah. They do get pretty annoyed by him though, probably since he never shuts up. So he just had to not start rambling on and annoy her. He could do that.

 

Except for the fact that he always rambles when he’s nervous and he was without a doubt going to be even more nervous than he already is by the time tomorrow comes. That’s fine. He’ll figure it out.

 

He knew he had to chill out a bit when his phone dinged and he jumped so high he nearly reached the ceiling. In his defence, it was really quiet in his room at 2 am. Wait--since when was it that late, or rather, early? He really needed to get to sleep.

 

Peter placed his phone on the ground next to his bed, then slid it across the floor. Now he’d have to get up in the morning to shut off his alarm and not just click snooze about twenty times before waking up ten minutes before he had to leave.

 

God, there was no way he was ever gonna get to sleep when his nerves were like this. His thoughts seemed to be moving at 100 miles an hour--another one replaced the last before he could process it. 

 

By some miracle, he managed to fall asleep about twenty minutes later, scenarios of the day ahead filling his head.

 

\-----

 

Peter spent the entire day in an anxious haze. There wasn’t a second that his leg stopped bouncing, he definitely didn’t process a single word said by his teachers (thank god Ned offered to send his notes to Peter, what an angel), and he couldn't keep track of how many times Flash threw paper at him for tapping his pen too loudly. He couldn’t wait to go home and relax, calm his nerves. Maybe he’d take a nap. That sounded nice. 

 

But that changed the second the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Peter walked sluggishly to the other end of the school. Maybe he should take the bus home today rather than swing there? It felt like all the energy had been drained out of his body--probably as a result of the hours of jittery leg-bouncing. A vibration shook his phone in his pocket and he ignored it. It was probably just a stupid game notification or Ned sending him a meme.

 

Peter felt like skipping down the stairs when he left school (finally, he would get to meet May’s girlfriend! Also, a nap before dinner sounded like a great idea) but he doubted he would have the energy if he tried. Okay, maybe he was overreacting with the exhaustion here, but he was really looking forward to that nap right about now.

 

Walking out of the gates of the school, his plans for the afternoon were thrown away at the sight of a not-so-inconspicuous black car driven by a certain man whose demeanor did not match his name. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the sight. Normally he would never turn down the chance to work with Mr. Stark and of course it was an honour that he was allowed to visit the lab. But today he wanted the chance to go home and relax before meeting May’s mystery woman. She truly was a mystery--the only thing May had told him was that her name was Belle. 

 

Nonetheless, he jumped in the backseat of Happy’s car and tossed his backpack on the seat beside him before buckling up. “Hey, Happy. Not to sound rude or whatever, but why are you here? It’s not a normal lab day. Wait--is there a mission?” Excitement filled his heart at the idea of having a mission with the avengers.

 

“Nope. Tony said he wanted you in the lab today, wouldn't tell me why.” This was all information Peter was provided before the divider shut between them.

 

Checking his phone, Peter found an unread text from Happy three minutes ago, telling him he was waiting out front. Aw, he thought, before homecoming he would just hope I didn't notice him so he could return to the tower undisturbed.

 

It was true, since homecoming Happy had been much more tolerant of Peter’s rambling and antics. That didn’t mean he liked it, though, and definitely couldn't handle non-stop chatter all the way to the tower. Even though he wouldn’t admit it if his life were on the line, he cared about the kid. 

 

Peter decided to text May, informing her of the sudden lab day with Mr. Stark so she wouldn’t be worried. She replied a couple of minutes later that she already knew. Weird. 

 

At least there was a bit of a drive to the tower, during which time Peter would be resourceful and have a power nap and listen to music in the backseat of Mr. Stark’s fancy car. Before he met Tony, Peter never believed sleeping in a car seat could be so comfortable--this was almost better than his bed. 

 

A knock on the glass divider woke Peter from his beauty sleep. He rubbed his eyes lazily, seeing that they’d arrived at the tower, and stashed his phone and headphones in his sweatshirt pocket. He said a quick “thanks” to Happy as he headed up to the lab.

 

“Hey, Mr. Stark!” Peter threw his school bag onto the floor next to his lab chair, settling into the soft cushion. “What’s up? Why’d you call me here--not that I don’t want to be here, of course.”

 

Mr. Stark looked up from the holograms at his lab table (Peter saw revisions of a new Iron Man suit in there somewhere), swiping them out of his view. “I had this idea for your suit that I wanted to discuss. Imagine if we made spider-legs that could come out of the suit. . .”

 

The two got lost in the diagrams and mechanics of the Spider-Man suit, barely noticing the time passing until Peter’s phone started vibrating repeatedly on the table beside him. He quickly clicked answer when he saw the caller ID. 

 

“Hey, May! What’s up?”

 

“Are you still at the lab?”

 

“Uh, yeah. Why?” He found his answer when he lifted the phone from his ear and checked the time. “Whoops. I’ll head home now--see you soon!”

 

“Leaving so soon?” Mr. Stark leaned back in his lab chair. Peter, stuffing homework and papers into his school bag, looked up at him. 

 

“Yeah, Me and May are going out for supper with--”

 

“Oh, is that today? With that one. . . Brigette, was it?” 

 

Peter raised his eyebrows at his mentor. “Belle, actually, but how did you know?”

 

“Me and May talk all the time.” Peter raised his eyebrows impossibly higher at this discovery. “Okay, see you Thursday. I’ll get Happy to wait for you down in the garage.”

 

The expression of absolute confusion did not leave Peter’s face as he exited the lab and took the elevator down to meet Happy. As weird as that revelation was, he was glad Mr. Stark called this unexpected lab day. He was much less jittery than this morning, less nervous about meeting May’s girlfriend after spending some time with his favourite engineer.


End file.
